convention of woven life forms varies with the kind of weaving, with
the shape of the object, with the position upon the object, and with
the shape of the space occupied, as well as with the inherited style
of treatment and with the capacity of the artist concerned. These
varied forces and influences unite in the metamorphosis of all the
incoming elements of textile embellishment.

It will be of interest to examine somewhat closely the modifications
produced in pictorial motives introduced through superstructural and
adventitious agencies.

We are accustomed, at this age of the world, to see needlework
employed successfully in the delineation of graphic forms and observe
that even the Indian, under the tutelage of the European, reproduces
in a more or less realistic way the forms of vegetal and animal life.
As a result we find it difficult to realize the simplicity and
conservatism of primitive art. The intention of the primitive artist
was generally not to depict nature, but to express an idea or decorate
a space, and there was no strong reason why the figures should not
submit to the conventionalizing tendencies of the art.

I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not from
necessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purely
geometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, as
well as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shown
in Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Pérou et
Bolive.

[Illustration: FIG. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which the
textile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvian